Ford released their road version of the GT Hardtop without anyone knowing anything 'about it: the factory put its race bits into a package option known only as the GT Special.
Many of the parts were handed down from the projected Phase Four one year earlier, including the holley carburettor and exhaust headers. Other Phase Four parts were not required on a road car now because the more liberal rules alrowed changes in the specific areas anyway,
It all resulted in a little extra horsepower on the road car but meant far greater improvements and extra reliability on the track.
The car was introduced for the Manufacturers' Championship but Howard Marsden and his team at Ford really had a job of producing a race car for the first round as the Ford factory had been crippled by a two month strike.
The two new white and blue cars were finished for Moffat to do a little testing before he and Fred Gibson lined them up at Adelaide International Raceway.
With virtually the same running gear as Moffat's ATCC winning Phase Three GTHO, the new Ford Hardtops were immediately reliable and fast.
A faulty batch of valve springs caused problems in practice but Moffat lined up on the front row with Brock on a very wet track for the start of the race. Moffat diced with Bond early in the race before the Torana crashed but then Moffat lost five minutes in the pits putting in a new battery. He drove back through the field to claim third place while team mate Fred Gibson drove through the wet conditions for a fine victory,
Just to ram home the Ford victory, Kevin Bartlett drove John Goss's car brilliantly to take second place ahead of Moffat.
It was a memorable debut for the new cars.
For the next round, the Sandown 250, Ford brought along three cars, the third one being the test machine and driven by Pete Geoghegan who was to co-drive at Bathurst with Moffat.
This third car created some controversy as it retired from the race after a wheel and axle parted company with the back end. It was only then that someone noticed the Falcon was fitted with disc brakes at the rear while the Falcons at the time had to run drum brakes. It was realised that this car was being run as a prototype for Bathurst by which time four wheel disc brakes would be homologated to race legally.
